When the Miami Dolphins hired Brian Flores to be their new head coach earlier this offseason, they were interested in more than just how Flores would handle the X's and O's. They were also looking at how he would relate to the players.
As a matter of fact, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier says that the main thing was the type of leader Flores was:
“For me, it wasn’t a matter of offense or defense,” Grier said, according to Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY Sports. “It was a matter of finding the right guy that we felt was going to be a leader of men, that was going to interact with this generation. This generation is different. When I grew up, I couldn’t talk back to my mom and dad. These kids, you see it out on the field, they’re talking back to coaches. It’s a different world. It’s a hard job, coaching these kids.”
Flores entered the NFL as a scouting assistant for the New England Patriots back in 2004.
After working with scouting through 2007, Flores became a special teams assistant in 2008, and by 2011, he was a defensive assistant.
The 38-year-old then began his climb to defensive play-caller, first working as a safeties coach for the Patriots from 2012 through 2015, and then in 2016, he took over as linebackers coach, as position he held through the end of his tenure in New England in 2018.
Flores called defensive plays for the Pats during his final season with the club after Matt Patricia's departure, but he was not given the title of defensive coordinator.
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